Welcome to my home
“Our main aim was to create a f low out” between indoors and
Lesley Sykes, a client relations director for a global travel company, lives here with husband Rupert, a property developer and interior designer for hotels, and their sons William, six, and Finn, three.
THE PROPERTY A four-bedroom Victorian terraced house in Cape Town, South Africa.
THE VALUE Similar houses in the area sell for around 10MZAR (£511,000).
Having met 10 years ago while living in London, Lesley and Rupert Sykes dreamed of returning to their homeland of South Africa. Investing in a Victorian property near Lesley’s parents in Cape Town allowed Rupert to follow his passion for property developing and Lesley to launch a career in travel. Together they also started a hotel interior design business (sykesdesign.wixsite.com/mysite).
‘We were hoping to find a property near the sea that we could put our own stamp on,’ says Rupert, ‘the more run down the better.’ Their two-storey terraced house had a traditional layout with little flow and natural light. However, Rupert had experience of re-designing similar properties in London. ‘Our vision to open up the house and maximise the space to create a modern family home required a lot of lateral thinking,’ he says. ‘Particularly as the house had been largely untouched for 40 years.’ Grobler Architects (groblerarchitects.co.za) collaborated on the project. This included extending the ground floor to create an open-plan living room and kitchen-diner, plus a family room and playroom around a decked courtyard.
On the first floor a secluded guest suite leads to a pool and roof terrace. ‘We wanted our visiting friends to have a degree of independence but still feel like part of the family,’ says Lesley. ‘Another guest suite and home office were fitted into the roof space, thanks to a sensitively designed roof mansard extension.’
Rupert and Lesley live in a part of the city that is quite built up, so devising ways to create privacy without compromising on aesthetics was important. Where possible they installed wooden ceilings in outside areas to create warmth, as well as green walls. Their experience in hotel interior design – they’ve completed two in recent years – has certainly influenced their own home. ‘Why would you deny yourself that holiday feeling every day in your own home?’ says Lesley. ‘Life is too short.’
Living room
Rupert has employed a number of clever ways to zone different areas in an open-plan space, be it with a rug, an accent wall or a kitchen island.
BUY THE KEY PIECES
London armchair in Turmeric velvet, £499, Swoon, is similar. Leopard print cushion, £28, I am Fy; and Vivaraise Fara cushion in Bronze, £30, Amara, would work here